Chelsea voters make their choices in primary
BY ALEJANDRA O’CONNELLDOMENECH
AND KEVIN DUGGAN
The pace of voter turnout at The Lesbian,
Gay, Bisexual and Transgender
Community Center on the Chelsea/
Village border was slow but steady. Poll
workers reported the only time there was
any line was right before doors opened at
on June 22.
The only issue reported was a lack of
interpreters at the site. Poll workers said
they were missing a Spanish language interpreter
and a NYPD offi cer stationed inside
at one point had to serve as an impromptu
interpreter for a solely Spanish-speaking
voter.
A poll watcher told the site’s coordinator
to take down the sign in front of the Center
stating that interpretation services were
available in Spanish.
For Terry Kaufman, 63, casting her
rank-choice ballot at The Center in The
Village was quick and easy in part because
she did not rank fi ve candidates when voting
for mayor. Kaufman told amNewYork
Metro she wished she was “more excited
about more of the candidates” but happily
cast her vote for her “clear” top choice,
former Commissioner of the New York City
Department of Sanitation Kathryn Garcia
who won her support mainly because of
her vast experience running such a large
city agency.
“I think she has the respect of a lot of
agencies in the city that she would be able
to work with,” Kaufman said. “She knows
City Council Speaker and Comptroller candidate Corey Johnson signs in to
vote in the June 22, 2021 primary.
the people of the city and how the city
works…I think she is really interested in
doing her job, she isn’t interested in power,
she’s not interested in being in the spotlight
and her record shows that she can do a
good job.”
In addition, she said she believes that
as a less extreme progressive compared to
some of her fellow candidates, Garcia will
have the respect of the NYPD, potentially
making the future rollout of police reform
easier as mayor.
A fellow fan of ranked-choice voting,
Chelsea resident Juliet Pope, 53, excitedly
stopped by Hughes High School on W. 18th
St. to drop off her absentee ballot.
“I think it’s an excellent, excellent idea,”
PHOTO BY ALEJANDRA O’CONNELL-DOMENECH
Pope said. “It means all of our votes count
more in a sense.”
Pope ranked Garcia as her fi rst choice
for mayor and chose Brooklyn Councilmember
Brad Lander as her top pick for
New York City Comptroller.
“Whoever takes this job will be in offi ce
during a very transformative time and a
vital time for the rebirth of our city,” said
Pope about the new mayor of New York
City. “Although she is not as progressive
as I might believe myself, I feel like she is a
get-it-done kind of gal.”
Although Pope did not have any challenges
understanding rank-choice voting,
she has seen other voters struggle with
the concept and blames confusion on
the New York City Board of Elections’
lackluster effort to explain the process to
New Yorkers.
“They could have done a hell of a lot
more to promote it, explain it, publicize
it,” she said.
New York City voters headed to the polls
to vote in the primaries on Election Day,
June 22, casting their ballot for who will
likely be the next mayor along with several
other local political races.
Almost 300,000 people already voted
before Tuesday, including 191,197 who
early voted from June 12-20 and 90,763
who returned their absentee ballots, according
to the city’s Board of Elections.
This election marks the citywide debut
Ranked Choice Voting, which allows voters
to rank up to fi ve candidates in order of
preference for the municipal races.
If a candidate gets more than 50% of
fi rst-choice votes, they are automatically
the winner.
If no one earns more than half the votes,
BOE will continue counting in rounds and
at the end of each round, the person with
the fewest votes is eliminated, a process
that continues until there are only two
candidates left and the politician with the
most votes wins.
The new system and the large amount
of absentee ballots mean that it will take
weeks before the city knows who won the
elections.
BOE doesn’t expect the fi nal results until
some time around July 12, almost three
weeks from now.
Final results on election won’t be known for weeks
BY ARIEL PACHECO
While the New York City primary
election has passed, the offi cial
results will not be in until the
anticipated date of July 12.
The initial preliminary unoffi cial results
released Tuesday night only included ballots
cast during early voting and on election
day. Absentee ballots will not be a part of
the initial tally.
The introduction of ranked-choice
voting (RCV) has created a new wrinkle
when it comes to the timeline. Only voters’
fi rst-choice will be counted immediately.
The Board of Elections (BOE) plans to
count the rest of the votes on June 29, but
those will also only include early voting and
election day ballots. The Campaign Finance
Board (CFB) is preaching patience.
“With Ranked Choice Voting, we will
be getting our results from the Board
of Elections in a new way,” said CFB
Spokesperson Matthew Sollars. “This will
A polling site on special election day in Far Rockaway, Queens, on Feb. 23.
take cooperation from everyone involved,
including the media and candidates, to
respect the counting process and to accurately
refl ect the unoffi cial nature of vote
PHOTO BY GABRIELE HOLTERMANN
tallies until the BOE declares an offi cial
winner.”
They also plan to release updates on the
absentee ballots one week after that on July
6. Complete results should be available by July
12, but there is no set date. An offi cial result
will be made when every vote is counted.
“Right now, we’re at a little over 80,000
absentee ballots,” said BOE Spokesperson
Valerie Vazquez.
As for the Republican mayoral primary,
the votes will be much easier to sort
through as there are only two candidates
running. The Republican winner should be
known by the end of tomorrow.
“While Ranked Choice Voting is new for
New York City voters, it has been used for
many years around the country,” said Sollars.
“The Board of Elections has developed
procedures for counting, tabulating, and
releasing the results that align with established
best practices. New Yorkers should
be confi dent that their primary votes will
count and be counted.”
Notably, both the Manhattan District
Attorney race and all judicial contests are
run through the state voting laws and do
not involve RCV.
Schneps Media June 24, 2021 3